Annan no vote far from the ‘highest act of dignity’

THE 13th anniversary of the Annan plan referendum of April 24, 2004 provided an opportunity to the pseudo-patriots of the ‘in-between political space, to advertise their patriotism, the patriotism of partition. They all celebrated what they called the “anniversary of the big no”.

All the great patriots, who led by Tassos Papadopoulos in 2004 voted, in effect, in favour of partition and making half of Cyprus a part of Turkey not only feel no shame for this disgraceful act, but are also celebrating their great achievement.

This is what Diko had to say in its declaration: “The verdict of the Greek Cypriots in the referendum of April 24, 2004, which decided a proposal for a settlement known as the Annan plan, constitutes the highest act of dignity, decisiveness, courage and responsibility.”

According to the party of Papadopoulos Sr, who had declared himself the saviour of Cypriot Hellenism, the vote in favour of permanent partition was an “act of decisiveness”. Finalising the surrender to Turkey of Famagusta, Morphou and some 45 villages as well as about 730 square kilometres of territory that would have been returned under the Annan plan, was the “highest act of dignity”.

And of course the Turkish army remaining in Cyprus, in favour of which these great patriots also voted, was an act of “courage and responsibility”. I might agree with Diko on this point. It truly does require great courage when Turkey agrees to and the Turkish Cypriots vote for the Turkish army to leave, to then go to the ballot box and vote “no – we do not want the Turkish army to leave Cyprus. We want it to stay here.”

In practice, this was the result of their vote. Turkey’s former prime minister, Ahmed Davutoglu, pointed this out to those who did not realise it and added salt to our wound when he said: “We offered to withdraw our army from Cyprus. They told it to stay there and it stayed.”

The rejection of the 2004 plan, as has been emphatically proved by developments since, was the highest act of national stupidity and national shame and not an “act of dignity” as Papadopoulos Jr and his party audaciously claim.

I have repeatedly written in detail what would have happened by now if the Greek Cypriots had accepted the 2004 settlement. Famagusta would have been under our control from August 2004 while Morphou and another 45 big villages would have come under Greek Cypriot administration by October 2007. And today, a very small, symbolic number of Turkish soldiers would be stationed in Cyprus.

For all this to have happened we needed neither the pseudo-patriotism of the “resounding no” nor the “new strategy” that Nicolas Papadopoulos has been promising. This would be the reality if the “national dignity” of Papadopoulos Sr and the rest of the super-patriots had not left Cyprus a prisoner of the Turkish army.

If he possessed a sense of responsibility, this anniversary could have been an opportunity for Papadopoulos Jr and his allies to consider the following: President Erdogan – the “neo-sultan”, who today they say shows no interest in a settlement and sent the seismic survey ship Barbaros into our EEZ – is the same Erdogan, who 13 years ago under very different political conditions agreed to withdraw the Turkish army from here and return a large chunk of territory to us.

This is the most overwhelming evidence to support the argument that when an opportunity arises you must grab it, because in politics conditions change and opportunities might not arise again. We who supported the plan kept saying this at the time. Neither then, nor now, when faced with the nightmarish consequences of their ‘no’, are our political clowns in a position to understand this simple truth.

When they consider the vote which donated Famagusta and Morphou to Turkey and kept the Turkish army in Cyprus the “highest act of dignity”, we can only expect the worse from such irresponsible and ruthless demagogues.

MR LOUCAS CHARALAMBOUS
The bıggest problem ıs every body knows every thıng. But when the leader of Cyprus advıses they take sıdes wıth him so that ıf any thıng goes wrong ın future they have more to talk crıtısıze and put more suggestıonsWITH OUT LOOKING WHERE THE WORLD HAS COME TO thıs atıtude has been goıng on for the last 60years and every tıme a new leader came to power he made ıt even worse than OF the one before ın other wards power goes to theır heads
Some people are begınıng to say thıs unfortunately happened AGAIN TO MR ANASTASIADES AS WELL OTHER WISE HOW COULD HE CHANGE SO MUCH FROM THE DAYS OF THE ANNAN PLAN? when he wanted a solutıon and saıd yes pssıonately aganst the famous MR Tasos Papadopullos
And now he ıs always sayıng NO to any proposıtıon along sıde the young
MR N Papadopullos and even he ıs a candıdate for the presıdency
So that between them they can set us back to most probably the bıggest dısasters we have ever expırıenced .ARE POLITICS BECOMING AN INSTRUMENT FOR CATASTROPHE OR A JOKE IN CYPRUS?

FreeCyprus

A “very small, symbolic number of Turkish soldiers”. It was 6,000 soldiers as I recall, who would have had expanded intervention rights in ALL of Cyprus and would have been supported by heavily armed Turkish bases just 40 miles to the island’s north. And that wasn’t the only problem with the Annan Plan. The Republic of Cyprus would have been dissolved (Turkey’s objective since 1963). Most of the 100,000+ illegal colonists imported by Turkey to deliberately change the demography of the island would have been allowed to stay. Cypriots would have been obliged to support Turkey’s EU membership, whether it satisfied the Copenhagen criteria or not (this was despite Turkey not even recognising the Republic of Cyprus and occupying 38% of its territory). The list goes on.

Brazen

600!

Brazen

“There would be a phased demilitarisation of Cyprus. All Cypriot security forces would be disbanded while Greece and Turkey would each be allowed to keep up to 6,000 troops in Cyprus until 2011. That would be reduced to 3,000 each by 2018 or earlier if Turkey joined the EU before that date.

After that, numbers would be scaled down to the original 950 Greek and 650 Turkish troops envisaged under the 1960 Treaty of Alliance. This would be reviewed every three years with the aim of an eventual total withdrawal of all Greek and Turkish forces.”
Cyprus Mail, December 29th 2016

Martin Standage

This arrogant, spoiled little brat has no shame and now wants to be President after his father effectively got the Greek-Cypriots to naively vote for partition by using mis-in formation and fear, reminiscent of the methods employed in third-world dictatorships to oppose anyone who disagrees with them!He has never given any explanation either for the secret meetings his father held at home with Serdar Denktash before the referendum or the missing Milosevic millions which were handled via his fathers legal firm?Anyone who is stupid enough to vote for such a despicable, devious and nasty minded person is in need of serious therapy!

peemdubya

“….constitutes the highest act of dignity, decisiveness, courage and responsibility.” should read “….constitutes the highest act of stupidity, divisiveness, cowardice and irresponsibility.”

Gold51

If both sides voted yes on the Annan plan 5, i dont think Cyprus would be in the EU c/o of Turkish demands to enter first. And weak EU would probably have agreed.
There is nothing to say Turkey would have implemented the Annan plan 5 agreement and things would still be as is.
Presently even while occupying almost half of Cyprus, Turkey still behaves in a hostile manner.
Erdogan said …If there was NO TC Turkey will stay….why?

Pc

Cyprus had already been admitted prior to the referendum. That was already agreed in 2003, many months before the referendum and only just after Denkatsh walked out in May 2003.

Gold51

Yes… but the actual official entry was the day after.
Anything could have happen before the EU met the following day.
Say for the good of Cyprus .

Pc

In politics you don’t retract your word once given. Also, the day after was the date on which membership became active. Permissions, ratifications, etc had all been completed.

braveheart

The question of EU accession by Turkey is dependent on a lot of issues, the least of them is Cyprus.

Gold51

You keep believing that.

braveheart

Greek Cypriot megalomania.

Frustrated

One cannot guarantee that any nation will or will not abide by agreements and it’s a non-argument to say that there’s therefore no point negotiating because one or other of the parties MIGHT not stick to them. Did Makarios abide by the London and Zurich agreements signed in 1960? Hardly. In December 1963 he effectively tore them up with his 13 points.

Paranam Kid

…the Turkish army remaining in Cyprus, in favour of which these great patriots also voted…
Let’s face it: the GCs just LOVE the Turks. They invited them to come in with their army in 1974, and in 2004 they voted to keep the Turkish army here.

Slomi

A real hard work.

Slomi

A great analysis.The last paragraph,specifically sums up all. Thank you Mr. Charalambous.

However it is a tragedy that majority of people here refuse to see these stark reality.This persistent callowness is the main reason that another OXI is ready .

Mr. Grumpy

Turkey will just sit back and let us self destruct. Our politicians are scoundrels. They do not care about the future so long as they benefit personally. May God help the rest of the people of this country.

Muffin the Mule

Not sure why Cypriots are seemingly always up for self immolation.

prof

indeed a plan giving to the devious brits exclusive rights for the exploitation of the see resources – see gas etc was an act of sanity and reason by both sides…. imbeciles
no wonder they are both considered as aboriginal simpletons

Frustrated

Reality is a factor which has never taken pride of place in the Levantine psyche and however anyone wants to dress it up, Cyprus IS very much part of the Levantine ‘tradition’ which resembles the workings of the souk as opposed to the Western way of thinking and behaving.

A prime example of this was the period of the Annan Plan in 2004. All the major parties agreed to endorse it and yet at the very last minute did a volte-face and we were subjected to the then president, Papadopoulos, coming on television with his crocodile tears to tell his compatriots to vote ‘OXI’. The Church also piled in with their threats of hellfire for all those who dared to vote ‘NAI’. And how could we forget AKEL’s excuse for changing tack: vote ‘OXI’ in order to secure a better ‘NAI’ at some indeterminate date. I ask you! The sheep duly voted in accordance with the wishes of these geopolitical numbskulls.

The bottom line is that by their suicidal action on coup day, 15th. July 1974, the Hellenes and would-be Hellenes opened the flood gates for Johnny Turk to pour through and defeat them. If one loses, to the victors the spoils and this salient fact doesn’t seem to compute. What was offered with Annan was tossed away with arrogance and stupidity. The result is there for all to see and no amount of bleating about international law and other such diversions will change the reality on the ground.

Barry White

Two very apt and descriptive words: ” arrogance and stupidity”. A third ???

Kibristan

delusional

braveheart

The celebration of failure reminds one of the gambler who boasts of his win at the casino, conveniently forgetting to mention his string of losses.

Pc

The 2004 OXI was a prelude to the March 2013 OXI. And although the second chance came a lot faster in 2013, it also showed that second chances are not better than the first opportunity. The Laiki & BOC bondholders, shareholders, employees and deposit holders can testify to that.

KAITANOU

Mr Charalambous are you so sure that Turkey would have implemented the agreement after they got what they wanted after the first day.

Muffin the Mule

An agreement is an agreement. Would have been worth it to find out surely.

Maverick

Surely it was “an act of dignity” to keep the launderette going against international opprobrium, an issue of far greater importance than the return of a few villages and 150,000 refugees.

SOKRATIS

Mr. Loucas, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Which is something between knowledge and ignorance. One thing is certain. The people have spoken and you have to respect it. Our people had no guarantees for security. It is as simple as that. You can not have the perpetrator (Turkey) being your guarantor. It is like having an arsonist as chief of the fire department. The same thing goes for the Brits that voted NO. Their fear for their security.They fear that the E.U is unable to control the flow of all the Islamist terrorists from the middle east to Europe that mainly prefer to settle in Britain. This creates insecurity. Whenever there is insecurity nobody gives a damn about anything else like economy or investments. Yes, there were people that voted Yes mainly because of economic reasons. The same goes for the Brits. For example the Scots voted Yes because of economic and investment reasons. That is why they still want to have another referendum to secede from G.B and become independent. This is food for thought.

braveheart

“…Islamist terrorists from the middle east to Europe that mainly prefer to settle in Britain.”
Totally off the mark. The UK has no open borders and is in control of them, this is a national responsibility, nothing to do with the EU. “Settlement” in Great Britain was until now possible only for EU citizens, certainly not for “Islamist terrorists”. The UK must deal with its own home made terrorism.

Neroli

Yes and once those Islamist terrorists get an eu passport they go anywhere they want.

braveheart

Unless Cyprus starts selling such passports, I do not know of any country in Europe where an “Islamist terrorist” can easily get a passport without going through extensive and lengthy citizenship procedures.

I suggest you familiarize yourself with the requirements to obtain citizenship in European countries.

Paranam Kid

If you are so sure about that, can you please provide us with some details? How does it work? Does a terrorist just go to a municipality in Germany & politely ask for a passport, which is then duly handed over to him? Is that how it works? If not, please tell us in which way passports are handed out willy-nilly in Germany.

Pc

No, she isn’t. German immigration is sending back tens of thousands of immigrants because they do not qualify.

Neroli

She is now!

Slomi

No . And as per pattern, all terrorist are europeans till this time,

Pc

That is merely the outcome of due process. People come, they file their application, it gets reviewed, some stay and most get send back. German bureaucratic efficiency at work.

Muffin the Mule

If I’m not mistaken, Cyprus sells citizenship if you invest over a specified amount in the Island.

braveheart

Malta does too. But anyone who can spend half a million or more is unlikely to be a threat to security.

Muffin the Mule

Don’t bank on it. Terrorists and criminals are not by default poor.

Pc

Look at the facts: all attacks perpetrated in Europe since 9/11 were committed by Europeans. 3th or 4th generation immigrants who grew up in Europe. They’re not coming from outside. We grow them from the inside.

braveheart

Those are rare exceptions ( in terms of going through the rigmarole applying for citizenship)

Slomi

Yes, True.

Pc

Yes, every immigrant is a terrorist (not!). People need to wake up to the fact that so far, all attacks carried out in Europe were perpetrated by Europeans (Yes, with a migrant background but all were 3th or 4th generation; they grew up in a European/Western environment). Rather than focussing on the border we should review why a distinct minority of our own population chooses to bomb the crap out of their fellow country men.

Neroli

I didn’t say they were! My comment was in answer to Sokratis above, IF there are any terrorists getting into EU, and let’s face it there must have been many that have come over!

Pc

As I said, the evidence is exactly the opposite. Secret services have not been able to detect anything and all terrorist attacks related to Islamic extremism in Europe have been planned and committed by Europeans.

A much bigger threat to Europe is the Balkan maffia who have been readily supplying weapons and explosives to the terrorist cells in Europe.

antonis/ac

Exactly. According to an exit poll, by Mega, seventy five percent (75%) of the Greek Cypriots who voted against the Annan Plan in 2004, cited security fears as their primary reason for rejecting it.

Needless to say, that your analogy and comparison of the Cyprus no vote with that of the British is superb.

Muffin the Mule

With shortly no UNFICYP, do they feel any safer now? Point is the agreement was for an agreed reduction in troops and presence.

antonis/ac

The UNFICYP is going nowhere.

braveheart

Your word is their command (not).

Neroli

The Scots cannot become Independant, they couldn’t afford it, for your information the majority of the Scots don’t want another Independance Referendum

Pc

Respecting someone’s choice and explaining that it is a stupid choice, are not mutually exclusive.

Pullaard

Their whole raison d’etre is self-aggrandisement and if that means the worst possible decisions for Cyprus and its citizens – tough. These political hacks, led by the Papadopoulos family, have become so adept at twisting facts that the voters have become brainwashed by their honeyed promises. I fear now, with the Grand Bully to the north, it is now too late to do anything about the status quo and partition is the only way forward. Such a desperate shame.

GSP

The population got what it voted for. The nominations here may be rigged, but a majority of people were daft enough to ultimately vote them into power.

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